10 More Alternate Horror Movie Endings You Didn't See

7. Katie Gets Gunned Down - Paranormal Activity

Freddy vs. Jason Alternate Ending
Paramount Pictures

Even before its formal release in 2009, Paranormal Activity had amassed a ridiculous amount of buzz.

Part of that buzz was due to how Oren Peli's found footage offering leaked online a solid 18 months before the film hit cinemas, with that leaked cut having a vastly different finale to what became the official version of Paranormal Activity.

The end of the first PA has Katie spending hours staring at a sleeping Micah. Going downstairs, a scream from Katie has her boyfriend wake up and rush to her assistance. Following an off-screen wail from Micah, audiences witness his lifeless body thrown directly at the camera by Katie and the picture ends as a demonic Katie lunges at the viewer.

This ending was put in place once Paramount picked up Paranormal Activity, but those who'd "acquired" the film online previously were given an ending where Katie winds up dead.

Before she does that, we get the same sequence of Micah following Katie downstairs where he's killed. This time, Katie returns to the bedroom and rocks back and forth until the following morning. There, her pal Amber arrives and discovers Micah's body. When the police turn up at the scene, they find the possessed Katie holding a knife, with the slamming door of the attic startling a policeman into shooting Katie dead.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.